Tilt

A review of Jone Rush MacCulloch's debut novel in verse

When I was in fifth grade, I did a terrible thing. I wrote a note to a classmate, let’s call her Cee Cee, that was full of reasons why I no longer liked her. Before my nasty note, Cee Cee and I had been friends. We had played at each other’s houses. Our moms knew each other.

When our teacher, Mr. M., got hold of my handwritten note, I was rightly called out on the carpet. The depth of feelings that I experienced in that incident was mighty intense – I learned that my actions were my own and could cause others’ pain, fear of our teacher calling my mom to report my unacceptable behavior was so terrifying, I think I wet my pants. The guilt I felt after the incident was more than I was capable of managing because I didn’t know how. Being a tween was new territory for me. There was a time of guilt and despair. My report card grades surely dipped.

I wish I could say that Cee Cee and I made up…that we forgave each other whatever monsters of grievance existed between us. But that never happened. We never really spoke or played together again. We grew up, graduated, and moved on. I would love to give Cee Cee a copy of Jone Rush MacCulloh’s book, Tilt, with a note of apology for what all these decades later I’m still sorry for. These days, I’m using my writing powers for good.

Unfortunately, I cannot make up with Cee Cee. We never crossed paths again before she passed away several years ago.

Reading Tilt, however, took me back to my fifth-grade self. I remembered navigating friendships, feelings of jealousy, frustration, anger, and even the flip-side feelings of wonder and joy. Age ten can be such a formative year. We see in this realistic fiction that fifth grade is more than an academic year of learning…it’s a time of growth in what it means to be a thinking and feeling human.

Tilt begins when the main character, Darrah’s dad, leaves her family. As Darrah and her mother search for a new normal, Darrah lands on the word TILT from her time playing pinball with her father, a good, all-around word to release stress. After all, Dad slyly uses TILT as a curse word.

Darrah and her best friend since kindergarten, Lily, like to climb and hang out in Gary, the oak tree. However, Lily hasn’t been the comfort Darrah now seeks, and all of a sudden, there’s a weird new boy, Jackson, who unexpectedly shows up in Gary’s branches. Well, TILT!

Darrah and Jackson have all kinds of adventures that forge a forever friendship: bike rides to the river, stone-skipping, fifth-grade group projects, and watching crows. Throughout, it’s clear that Lily has been squeezed out of Darrah’s life. There’s even a terrible classroom incident.

Early in their friendship, on a bike ride to the river, Darrah and Jackson pass a house with big snarly dogs. Darrah remains afraid of the dogs throughout the story. Jackson does not. Threads of Darrah, Jackson, and Lily continue to weave together and fray until one night, deep into the story, Darrah does something she knows she shouldn’t do…ride to Jackson’s house late at night.

Jackson and Darrah are out, unbeknownst to their parents, when Jackson decides to visit the dangerous dogs. Tragedy then TILTS Darrah’s entire world. What follows is a heartfelt journey of grief, forgiveness, and repair.

“Forgiveness is like climbing a tree. You must be willing to bend”

This is where Jone’s mastery as an elementary school teacher, librarian, and author shines. Unlike the fifth grader I was decades ago, who didn’t learn then how to apologize, the characters in TILT support Darrah as she works through finding words for her actions and remorse. Darrah also learns how to move forward after devastating loss.

The poetry of this verse novel is more than beautiful–it’s so human, accessible to children and older readers. We readers want Darrah to grow, find comfort, and to have healthy relationships. We want there to be ways to honor who and what she loses in this story. Jone’s writing does that as naturally as crows find a home to roost in the branches of oak trees.

Set in the Pacific Northwest and in view of Mount Hood, this novel in verse is written for ages 8-12 and is based on a real event from the early 2000s. However, I read it and loved it as I remember what I wish could have happened to me, with Cee Cee and me, when we were in fifth grade. TILT is expertly published by River Oak Press and available through Amazon. I hope you pick up a copy to read and share today.

Additional news and reviews of TILT

• Carol @ The Apples in my Orchard

• Jan @ Salt City Verse

• Northwest Independent Writers’ Association

• Cup of Tea

• Oregon Poetry Association

• Jone’s blog @Jone Rush MacCulloch